The SMU rowing team took two gold medals, a silver and a bronze in the Midwest Intercollegiate Rowing championship hosted by the University of Creighton on Saturday.
In spite of the medal-winning efforts of the rowers, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (94) clipped the Mustangs (93) for first place in the regatta by only a point. Rounding out the top five were Creighton (88), Murray State (73) and Drake (63).
Both medals for the rowing team came from the varsity four teams in the B and C races. The Mustang crew headed by coxswain Emily St. John was able to build a significant lead over the other teams in the B event. The crew eventually won the race with a time of 6:43.2. This was 13 seconds faster than Murray State’s second-place crew.
In the C event, coxswain Emily Van Volkinburg’s crew of Danielle Nehf, Caitlin Ludwig, Nicolle Keogh and Lauren Hadaway were also able to take the gold. However, this was a significantly closer race that the Mustangs won by only half a length.
The Mustangs’ silver medal came in the Varsity eights race. The Mustangs finished only four seconds behind gold-medal winner Creighton. The novice eights crew was also able to get a silver.
It was the A race of the four person crew that gave the Mustangs their only bronze. The Mustangs recorded a time of 6:15.69. Tulsa won the race with a time of 6:08.5, while Murray State finished in second with a time of 6:11.44.
The team has nearly three weeks off before the season resumes with another regatta. The Mustangs will travel to Oak Ridge, Tenn., for the South-Central Regional Championships on May 17 and 18.